How an Ottawa newcomer’s moving challenges led Sienna Hermary to launch Urban Camel
Urban Camel, started in late 2024, is mapping the road ahead with help from former and current Algonquin College students.
Its founder, Sienna Hermary, describes it as “Uber or SkipTheDishes for small moves and furniture delivery.”
Hermary said the idea for the company came after she moved to Ottawa. Born in Alberta before moving to England and British Columbia, Hermary was no stranger to new locations. However, this was the first time she hadn’t been able to furnish her apartment.
“I had no friends, no family, nothing,” Hermary said. “I didn’t have a car at the time either. I didn’t have anybody to help me move anything. I think that’s when I first started really experiencing issues that a lot of people experience when they’re moving.”
She began discussing the idea with friends and family and then went through Invest Ottawa’s ignition accelerator program.
“That helped me a lot with defining the business direction and really validating the business concept that I felt there was a market,” Hermary said.
One major obstacle was handling the technological aspects of the business. Hermary said students from the Algonquin College of applied arts and technology built the first iteration of the minimum viable product.
Luis Cortorreal is a graduate of Algonquin College’s mobile app design and development program.
Cortorreal joined Urban Camel as a co-founder to help with the design of the app. He says there are two sides of the app, one for the customers and the other for the movers (the company currently has five movers, all of whom work as independent contractors).
On the customer side of the app, once you’ve entered some basic information, you can then book the move. You’ll be asked about the logistics and timing of the move. The price of the move is dependent on what you’re moving, how far and whether you’re able to assist with the move.
“And when that’s obvious we give you an upfront price, so we are super transparent with that,” Cortorreal said. “Then when the date arrives, you will start getting notifications from the mover that it’s heading to your direction. So, we have real time tracking so you will see the mover going in.”
Hermary said they’re catering to two main groups, one is people renting apartments as they may not have a car or truck to assist them. The other is university and college students.
“Because university students, we find are often moving twice a year,” Hermary said. “Depending if you’re living on campus or not.”
While Urban Camel is still finding its footing, its next step forward is marketing.
“A lot of our focus is on getting content out more consistently on social media,” Hermary said. “We’re looking to do some bold marketing campaigns with the universities and apartments and some of our target markets across Ottawa.
Hermary said she’s hoping to get more students from the college to help with the marketing as well as furthering the tech and AI integration.
Their ultimate goal is to go international, starting in Canada and focusing on major cities.
“There’s so many people in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, that they don’t have cars,” Hermary said. “They just use the trains because it’s terrible to drive there. So, thinking about where the pain points are the most evident and then targeting those regions.”
